


Look How Far We've Come

by DeusLux



Series: WOW Short Reads [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Background characters - Freeform, Canon-Typical Violence, Childhood, Fighting, Guns, Major Characters Mentioned, Minor Character Death, Murder, One-shot Characters, Original Character(s), Riots, Violence Against Pregnant Persons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-01
Updated: 2015-01-01
Packaged: 2018-03-04 18:49:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3082619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeusLux/pseuds/DeusLux
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Anastasia Marctosh is desperately trying to get her grandmother's medication home when she is caught up in a riot.<br/>As is a young boy who has seen more than he should.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Look How Far We've Come

 Anastasia Marctosh scrambled along the streets. Around her night had come but it was bright with fire and flashlights and shop lights dancing across the street with people running about her. She had a small bag of tablets in her pocket that would likely be ripped from her cold fingers if she was caught with them.

 A scream ring from a siren from the street over. People laughed at it. A couple of men with Halloween masks and bandannas ran past her, guns and knives in hand.

 _Shit!_  she thought. If this got any worse there would be another war. The last one had lost them nearly 85 generations of people, it would fucking kill more if they had another.

 Another man ran past her, his nose and brow bloody and swollen. Ana dodged him, trying to jog but not too obviously. She quickly pulled collar of her puffer coat around her neck, trying to hide her face. Her hair was tatty and loose in the wind. It wasn’t breezy out, but the fire nearby blew hot waves of air after her.

 She ducked into an alley to catch her breath. She looked out from around the pipe and brick to see a car alight. Military standard armoured vehicle. Not so armoured now that is had become a bonfire fuelled by alcohol and pack mentality.

 She coughed the ash that wafted her way. Looking about the street Ana saw the waves of people gathering to watch and eventually join in. Most of them were adults but some were teenagers that should have been in bed. Ana scolded herself quickly for forgetting that she was scarcely three or four years older than some of them.

 A bang came from the touched car. Several people looked worried and scared at the chaos. She didn’t blame them. She scanned the people for anyone who looked dodgy when her eyes caught the sight of a little boy, no older than thirteen and that might have been pushing it. His skinny legs and arms were exposed from his sleeveless shirt and knee length shorts. His orangey red hair was wild.

 Horror ran cold through her skin. How can a child be in the middle of this? Where was his carer?  _He_ defiantly should be at home wrapped up in bed. He was grinning widely at the blaze, as if he was pleased with himself. His wide eyes didn’t look scared but excited. There was something entirely malicious about him.

 Something caught her eye and she looked down. The child was shoeless. Fucking shoeless! For crying out loud! It was winter, fucking freezing, but Suzy-in-the-fucking-summertime had missed the memo at some point.

 Another explosion came from the car. It caused heat and air and ask to bellow across the street. It caught her dark hair and clothes and sent them whipping across her face. She tried miserably to brush it from her eyes but the heat stung and she squeezed them shut.

 There was a scream and she looked up. A girl had been thrown to the ground and was using her hands to shield her head as several girl kicked her. A man pushed past the boy to stop them. Suddenly she laughed nervously.

 When the boy had been pushed aside, he had stumbled slightly. When he had stumbled, little white wings on his ankles had flapped, just as a bird’s did when it shooed away. That had to be her imagination.

 Mr Hero was struggling to get the girl into his arms and drag her away from her attackers when one of the girls pulled a knife out and stabbed his shoulder. Blunt and to the point, no warning or threat, no look at flashy knife you son of a bitch. Just whip out and sink it in.

 Fuck, she had to get out of there.

 The train station wasn’t far now, Marctosh reminded herself. At the end of the street. She had been there before, it was how she got her for crying out loud. Just step out and go. Don’t run, don’t run. Running makes people chase. Don’t want that, don’t run.

 “Don’t run.” She whispered. She stepped out and walked down the street to the train station, standing too rigid to be casual. The train station was crowded people and she had to push past them to get in. The desk was clear of people thankfully. The man behind it looked tired and stressed.

 “A single to Asteral please.” She asked gruffly, her voice harsh with ash.

 “There are no more trains tonight. Sorry ma’am.”

 “What?!” there was always trains, 24/7. That was a fucking rule.

 “There are no more trains tonight. The riots means that it is too dangerous to have the trains running because they might start acting up on board which makes it dangerous for passengers, especially children and elderly.”

 “Why the fuck would there be any children on a train at this time of night, or old croaks for that matter?!” she gestured angry at the quiet station.

 “Because there are people who want to get away from the area for safety.”

 She huffed. This was not fair. She needed to get these pills home safety. She looked to her left. There was two rows of seats, back to back, down the platform. The chairs and floor had several dozen people either sleeping or speaking softly to each other. Many of them were either children or elderly, parents gently stoking their children’s head. It was outlandishly quiet.

 Ana tried again. She leaned onto the desk and asked softly “Please? There has to be something. I have to get home.”

 The man stared her for a long while. His grey eyes twitched across her face, his expression unreadable. Finally he sighed “The next train will be four o’clock tomorrow morning hopefully. Come back then and I might be able to fit you in.”

 She bowed her head and sighed again. Deflated, defeated. She pushed away from the desk and walked back out the door, needing a breath of fresh air. She needed to get a phone and call Grammy.

 It was the only thing she could do right now.

 There was a hotel on the street across which had a lobby phone. She would use that, get a fag, a sandwich and crash at the station until four. She coughed again. She really need a fag to clear her throat.

 The street was steadily getting more crowded now. She pushed past people before realising that some of them were running. A lot of them were running. Suddenly a man with a bloody shoulder staggered past her. There was a popping noise, then another.

 There was yelling as dozens of people scrambled away. She froze in place. Some people were watching, not sure of what to do probably. Someone fell, their shoes skittering across the concreate. They scrambled to their feet, blood glowing beneath their ripped jeans.

 More gunshots.

 A scream was cut short.

 Fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck!

 A young lad suddenly fell backwards. Beside him was a pregnant woman, she struggled to keep him up as he slumped down, eventually giving up and letting him rest on the ground. His hands came up from his stomach red and shiny. He was shaking violently and she bowed over him, rubbing hair away from his face, shaking too.

 Oh God…

 A woman came up behind her, gun in hand. The pregnant woman howled at her wretchedly, her thick sobs echoed. The gun was raised to her head and she looked down the barrel. Anastasia heard her start to say something. Bang!

 Oh God.

 She slumped to the side. The man froze and screamed in agony and turmoil. She shot the woman’s swollen stomach four times and walked away.

 Oh God!

 A man tackled her to the ground after he snapped free of his trance. The gun skidded from her hand and a man grabbed it before pointing it at her. The man restraining her shook his head and shouted something above the sudden noise that seemed to return to Ana’s ears.

  _Oh God!_

 Suddenly the man holding the gun jerked, his head snapped to the side and blood exploded from the other side of his skull. A row of about six soldiers marched up with riot shields and large guns. One of them grabbing the man restraining the woman, forced him away and shot the woman three times in the back and skull.

 She bolted for an alley, tripped over the curb and was flung face first into the pavement. Her jaw cracked of the surface hard and her teeth snapped loudly. She could hear the pills flying across the floor. She scrambled onto her hands and knees and crawled frantically for the bag.

 A foot stomped beside her and kicked to aside. She rolled onto hip and raised her hands above her head before she even saw the soldier.

 “What are those?”

 “Tablets for my grandmother. Lacosamide tablets for epilepsy, 100g, 600 tablets. My Grammy needs them, please I came from Asteral to get them because the tablets didn’t get shipped. I need them for Grammy sir, please don’t take them sir!” she became frantic.

 Another soldier came up from behind him and lifted up the bag. The tie was the hospital standard blue and was labelled. Hell, she would go to the hospital to prove that she got them there if she needed too.

 The soldier looked at the tie and handed the bag back to her. He looked at his friend and marched on. Anastasia Marctosh had never known relief until now. She gasped and shuddered before rolling back onto her hands and vomiting.

 She heaved and sobbed and heaved some more. She wiped her eyes and mouth. More sobbing…

 That wasn’t her.

 She looked up and saw, hiding in the alley a little boy, no more than six. He was bleeding from his forehead and crying. All curled up and hugging his knees made him look small and fragile.

  _He’s just a baby._  She thought, remembering the woman was now lay dead next to her dead companion.

 She straightened and shoved the bag into her pocket again “Hey kid, are you alright?”

 He looked at her, frozen for a second before curling further into himself.

 She tried again “You’re bleeding, I’m sure the hotel nearby has a plaster for you.”

 He shook his head before turning away from her. She scowled “Where is your mother?”

 He flinched and ignored her. She huffed, stood and walked off. She got only ten steps away when she stopped and looked back at the alley. There was a bang of the exploding car far off and she ran back, crawled into the narrow alley and reached her hand out to the boy “Come on. It’s scary here. I know somewhere safer.”

 He stared at her for a long while before turning back towards her “I don’t know you. I shouldn’t go with strangers.”

_Smart kid at least._

 “My name’s Anastasia, and my Grammy told me that strangers were people who you haven’t become friends yet.” She reached closer, palm up.

 “My name’s Kaden.” He took her hand and she pulled him free of the alley. She checked him quickly for other injuries before walking him to the hotel briskly.

 Once they got there, she smiled at him and brought him to the desk “Excuse me, do you have anything for this kid’s head, he’s bleeding something bad.”

 The clerk looked up at her from what he was doing before leaning over the desk to inspect the child’s head. He gasped, grabbed a box from under the desk and motioned the boy around the desk to the seat.

 “Can I also barrow you’re phone?” he nodded and pointed at the booth on the other side of the reception. She nodded, told Kaden she would be right back, rushed over and dialled her home number.

 It rung nearly seven times before she got an answer “Hello? This is Samantha Marctosh speaking.”

 “Grammy, it’s me. I got the medicine but the next train won’t be until four tomorrow morning, so I won’t get back until about three-ish, is that okay? Do you have enough until then?”

 “Ana, oh yes, of course, I have enough till the end of the week. Are you okay? Are the trains stopped because of those riots?”

 “Yeah. I, um…” she needed to tell “Don’t watch or listen to the news for a few days, okay. I… I saw something awful tonight…”

 “What? What is it?! What happened?! Are you alright?!” came the panicked reply.

 “Grammy calm down, I’m fine. Just don’t watch the news okay. Look, I have to go, I found this kid with a busted up head in an alley with me and I have no idea what to do with him, so I guess that I will sit with him until we can call his parents. Take care of yourself, okay. Love you, see you tomorrow, bye.”

 “Love you too, goodbye. Stay safe.”

 She put the phone down “I’ll try.”

 Was anyone safe in this place right now?

 She ran her hands through her hair, gathered her nerves and turned back to Kaden. His head had a large plaster and seemed a lot calmer, if still a little shocked. She knelt beside him.

 “Where’s your carer kid?”

 He looked down. She blinked before lifting his chin up and asking him again “Where’s your carer?”

 He was silent for a while and Ana was about to ask again when he said “She’s gone now. She’s gone up to heaven with Grandma and Grandpa.”

 Oh…

 Oh God.  _Why…?_

 “Where’s your father? Do you have his number?” he nodded. She walked him slowly over to the phone and dialled the number he rhymed out as only a child told to remember something could. She coughed as he waited for the phone to pick up. Her throat was starting to really hurt now.

 “Hello! Harley?! Is that you?!”

 The panic in his voice caught her off guard “Hello. No, is this Kaden’s father?”

 “Kaden?! Yes it is, is Kaden safe?! Where’s his mother?! Is she there?!”

 She coughed, not sure how to say it. It was on the tip of her tongue and she still… “No… I’m so sorry…”

 Her throat burned even more with the urge to cry. The silence that followed was so painful that she actually sobbed, she covered her eyes and tried to hide the sobs from Kaden. After a while she thought he had left the phone but eventually his voice came through again, thick and laced with tears.

 “Where are you? Is… is Kaden safe?”

 “The Hotel Starfinger, near the Eastern Train Station. Kaden’s here, he’s fine. He’s had a little bump on his head, but he is fine.” She couldn’t hide her tears anymore and drew the boy closer to the phone “He’s here. Here, talk to your dad.”

 “Daddy? Daddy? Are you there? Yeah, I’m fine. No…”

 Ana stepped back into the wall and slid down until she was seated. She bowed her head and let the tears run down her face. That little boy… his mother was dead. Had he seen her death? Very likely from his father’s reaction. Oh God!  _Why?_

   _Why?_ Why was this happening? What right does someone have to end someone else’s life? Humans aren’t Gods! They had no right!

 Surely they had come away from times when murders ran the street like nerds ran computers. Look how far they had come now. Look how far they had come!  _Look how far we’ve come!_

 Haven’t changed, nothing’s changed. Why did people think it would end? Bloodshed creates more bloodshed, Grammy had drilled that into her. Stay safe. Keep safe. Don’t hurt others because you can. This little boy had watched his mother die. For what?  _For fucking what?!_

 Nothing. Nothing can justify taking someone’s life like that. That little boy, little baby,  _someone’s fucking baby_ , would never forget that. He would never not know that his mother had been killed by someone for the hell of it.

 _Look how far we’ve come._  She thought bitterly.  _We live in a world where men are no more than animals that still think death justifies something. Pointless, it’s all pointless. Murder, how dare they take someone’s life away, someone loves them. Everyone is loved by someone. Why? Why did this happen? WHY?!_

 She stood when he hung the phone back up, by which time, the clerk had brought over a mug of hot chocolate, a blanket and was walking the child into the dining room to eat something. She stepped outside for her cigarette.

 Within ten minutes, Kaden’s father ran into the hotel and hugged his son, his baby. They both sobbed loudly. They went home, and at four in the morning, Ana also went home. She handed the tablets to Grammy before sobbing on her shoulder.

 Twenty-six years later she saw Kaden again, though she didn’t recognise him. He was the paramedic that saved her after her heart attack.


End file.
